Argentina’s judiciary will investigate former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe | For his alleged involvement in cases of extrajudicial killings

2024-07-06 03:01:00

Argentina’s judiciary gave the green light to continue the investigation against former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe for his alleged involvement in cases of extrajudicial killings.know how “False assurances”which took place during his reign.

A collection of lawyers “José Alvear Restrepo” (Charger), a Colombian organization committed to the protection of human rights, noted in a statement that the decision made by the Federal Criminal and Correctional Court 2 of Buenos Aires will allow the investigation to increase and new evidence to be presented that may be basis to. procedure.

“The Colombian state has accumulated a historical debt with the victims of armed conflict and political violencewho have been prevented from accessing justice, truth, complete reparation and non-repetitive guarantees with their actions, representations and requests in different judicial systems,” the statement revealed.

According to the complaint, former President Álvaro Uribe would have allowed, authorized, motivated and even promoted performed in Colombia, between August 8, 2002 and December 31, 2008, more than six thousand times of extrajudicial killings and the rapes of people who pretended to have been killed in combat in guerrilla actions against the Colombian Army, known as “false convictions”, within the framework of widespread and systematic attacks against the population city.

Details of complaint

In a decision issued by Federal Judge Number Two, Sebastián Ramos, The position of the victims is admitted to the complaint parties within the criminal case. “This guarantee provides the possibility of carrying out different actions within the process, with the purpose of provision and exercise aimed at clarifying the facts of the victim and establishing criminal responsibilities,” he said. Charger. “In relation to the group of victims who are still unknown, it is possible to turn to experts who contribute to the establishment of their identity and the status of their relations has been opened,” the group of lawyers added.

The victims filed the complaint in November 2023 against the former President, in the use of principles of universal jurisdiction, which allows individuals to be investigated and tried for serious crimes that are not prosecuted in their native countries. Three groups of victims are included in this complaint: families of four known victims, seven unknown victims, and three human rights defense groups: Council of Solidarity with Political Prisoners, Corporación Jurídica Libertad and CAJAR itself.

“This action is a historic step for victims and organizations in the fight against impunity in Colombia. The investigation by the Court against Álvaro Uribe will open the door for it to be “the first time that a Colombian president has been investigated for a charge that accuses him of international crimes.”, the plaintiffs said on that occasion in a press release. “This puts him at the level of other former presidents in Latin America and the world, where, with the implementation of the process of universal jurisdiction, more appropriate processes for accountability have been promoted; such as the case of Augusto Pinochet, Efraín Ríos Montt. and Hissène Habré”, added the protest groups.

Uribe’s denial

In September of last year, the former president Uribe He spoke after a group of soldiers admitted that they had killed nearly 300 civilians to present them as victims of the conflict, in the department of Casanare. Through a video broadcast on their social networks, He admitted that he had been questioning with the soldiers of the Armed Forces, but he maintained that he worked within the lawthus denying any involvement in the events.

Likewise, in 2021 Uribe made sure that he acted quickly and publicly in response to complaints of indiscriminate killings during his mandate. “There is no Colombian soldier who can say that I gave him a bad example of words or actions… The fault is not the one who asks for results with disclosure, (it is) a criminal without power, who does false results that produce crimes, “Uribe alleged. in the statements received by various media.

Sebastian EscobarAttorney CAJAR, referred to Page I12 that it should be expected that the former president will respond by defending himself against the complaints made against him. “We have provided important evidence that during his mandate more than 6,000 false positive cases have occurred, how these cases were blamed and announced from the initial stage of his policy. That is, You know what is happening and no timely measures are taken; These are the elements of international criminal law that are sufficient for him to assume criminal responsibility. “that occurred.

In Colombia, although progress has been made in the investigations into the incidents against some responsible military officers, the same has not happened with respect to officers in command of the armed forces, as is the case of Uribe. “One of the reasons is because, for example, within the framework of the Peace Agreement, special models of justice were created that do not allow the judgment of the leaders. Although there is a special case for the study of the leaders, these studies are the Process of the case that has never progressed,” the lawyer mentioned, to explain why they went to the Argentine court.

“There are many European countries that recognize international jurisdiction, but establish certain limitations, for example, that the perpetrator or accuser is a citizen of that country or the victims are residents or nationals of that country. Argentina recognizes the principle of international jurisdiction broadly in the sense that international crimes can be prosecuted outside its borders against any perpetrator and regardless of who the victims are.“, explanation Escobarshowing the country’s importance regarding human rights issues.

Bribery and fraud

The issue of false positives is not the only reason that the former Colombian president has in his hands. In May He was accused of bribing witnesses in criminal cases and fraud. within the framework of the investigation that began in 2018. The Attorney General of Colombia announced in early April that it would invite Uribe to trial for the aforementioned crimes, indicating that it would not request an arrest warrant against the President earlier and, therefore, therefore, he can defend himself freely in the mouths of the investigation that took place against him.

The case began in 2012 when the former president opposed Senator Iván Cepeda, asserting that he had visited national prisons to present false evidence to him about the emergence of paramilitarism in the province of Antioquia. However, after the presentation of evidence, several sources suggested that the former President’s lawyers sought to manipulate witnesses so that they could point to Cepeda, so the latter went from being accused to victim, unlike Uribe, the accuser, who became an investigator.

report: Axel Schwarzfeld